


5 AM Is An Unreasonable Time To Get Up

by AlloftheFandom



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Blood and Violence, But not the super bad kind, Child Abuse, Dissociation, Humanstuck, I swear things look up after the first chapter, Internalized Homophobia, Minor Character Death, Multi, Only mentions after chapter one, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Burn, There will be angst whoops, background rosemary - Freeform, but only in one chapter, cuz reconcilliation, i think i got all the important characters listed but it might change, mentions of past toxic relationships, recovery fic, strilonde family shenanigans, the dirkjake is both past and going to happen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-23 08:01:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12502656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlloftheFandom/pseuds/AlloftheFandom
Summary: After a particularly hellish day, a familiar face shows up on Dave Strider's doorstep. A face he hasn't seen in years.





	1. 5 AM

**Author's Note:**

> there is violence and a bit of gore in this chapter, its mildly graphic so if thats not your jam prolly dont read it  
> all of the betas are around 16-17 while the alphas are around 21-23

Dave jolted awake as a loud thunk came from his bedroom door and already he could tell something was wrong. It was still dark out and he felt like he hadn't managed to catch even a wink of sleep. The tiredness wasn't an abnormality, though. Dave often stayed up late chatting with his friends or working on his music, but this was different. Perhaps the severe lack of natural light was making it even worse.

He rolled over and checked his phone for the time. Oh great, 5:21, a good 2 hours before he normally got up for school. He groaned to himself, lamenting the early hour and the sound that had woken him up.

Wait, shit the sound!

Dave scrambled out of bed and managed to trip over a stray cord on the floor. He caught himself on the wall and hit the switch to turn the overhead light on. Jesus Christ that thing is bright, why did saving energy have to be so painful?

He threw the clothes in his closet that smelled the least bad on himself and grabbed his shades and phone off his bedside table and opened his door. A small note was stuck to the door next to the one from two days ago that he'd forgotten to take down. It was from Bro, of course it was. Who else would it be from. Cal? Actually, he wasn't so sure if that were really as unlikely as he thought.

The note was almost an exact copy of the one next to it which was unsurprising. He had a brand that he stuck to, though it would be nice to see some change for once.

Dave sighed to himself and grabbed his sword off the wall to head to the roof. He didn't see any point in keeping Bro waiting more than he already had. Keeping him waiting was one of the worst thing he could do aside from plain not showing up. No matter, Bro would probably still be just as pissed from how long it had taken him to get up.

As soon as he got to the roof, Dave wished he could be back inside. Normally Bro would wait until later in the day to initiate a strife, saving the rare occasions like this. Dave figured it was to keep him on his toes and ready for anything. He could do without the cold weather, though. Seriously, how could anyone stand temperatures below 70 degrees?

He suppressed a shiver and readied himself for the near daily ass kicking he'd grown used to over the years. He went through the regular motions of trying to block his brother's attacks, but generally failing miserably at it. Dave knew he'd gotten faster over the years, but he still couldn't outspeed Bro.

A few minutes into it, Dave lost his grip on his sword as Bro hit him hard and knocked it out of his hands. The cheap steel hit the side of the roof with a sharp clang before snapping in two, sending the handle over the edge.

Dave swallowed and backed up slowly as Bro had stopped his barrage of attacks and was just staring him down. He had no idea what to do in this situation. He was used to his sword breaking, but it had never gone over the edge before.  He couldn't grab what remained of the blade without cutting himself and there was no way in hell Bro was either gonna let up or drop his sword any time soon. He still had another sword in his room that he could get if he could manage to get back inside.

He made a break for the door, jumping down onto the top of the adjoined stairwell. He managed to get inside and down the stairs before a sharp pain went through his upper arm and he was pinned to the wall. Dave spared a glance down to investigate what had happened to his arm and nearly passed out as his mind tried to process what he was seeing. 

His brothers blade had lodged itself in his arm and stuck hard into the wall in front of him. The wound was bleeding profusely, though not as much as it might if the blade were taken out. He wasn't sure if pulling it out was even possible with the position he was in without tearing the flesh off of his arm.

A moment later, he watched the blade be pulled from his arm and he slumped down against the wall. He turned so he was facing towards the stairs and watched his brother go back into the apartment. A small click came from the door, signifying that it had been locked.

Dave felt another rush of panic go through him when he heard the lock. Being locked out meant two things. The first being that he had fucked up enough to warrant being denied a place to sleep for the next however long it was until Bro decided he had learned his lesson. And the second, oh boy the second. He had no access to the small med kit he kept in his room for situations like the one he was in. He would have to improvise then.

With a lot of effort, Dave took his shirt off and ripped off a long strip of fabric. Clumsily, he tied the makeshift bandage around his arm tight enough to keep steady pressure on it, but not tight enough to risk fully cutting off blood flow.

When he was finished he sat back against the wall hoping to a god he didn't believe in that he would survive. He got on his phone and checked the time and wasn't sure if he should be thankful or not that he still had two hours before school started. He wasn't fully sure if he could even make it to school with a hole in his arm and no backpack. Maybe he could lie to his teachers and say he got mugged by a homework stealing maniac or his totally real dog ate it and tried to eat him. A lot of possibilities, none of them likely to be even remotely believable.

He had some time to kill so, he opened up Pesterchum on his phone and sent a message to the only one of his very limited friends list that might be awake.

\-- turntechGodhead [TG]  began pestering tentacleTherapist [TT]  at 6:08 --

TG: yo rose you up yet?

TG: im practically dying of boredom over here

TG: gonna fucking keel over soon

TG: then bam

TG: no more dave

TT: Finally, the much needed break from you I deserve.

TG: wow rude much

TG: i came out to have a good time and honestly im feeling so attacked right now

TG: why would you do this to me rose

TG: hurt my feelings like this

TG: you wound me

TT: Don’t you dare send me that fucking song again.

TT: Dave, don’t test me.

TT: I will not hesitate to come down there and end you.

TG: what you mean like this?

TG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJhnRQAkTC4

TT: You do realize I don’t have to click that, right?

TG: oh no

TG: youve foiled my plan again

: curse you and your ability to not click a button when your sweet baby brother asked you to

TT: First of all you never asked.

TT: Second of all, I’m glad you’ve finally accepted your fate as the baby of the family.

TT: I’m telling Roxy immediately.

TG: rose no

TG: fuck you get back here

TG: im older than you

TG: yaint got shit on me

TT: Too late.

TT: Roxy was delighted to hear your resignation.

And just like that, Roxy had messaged him. Color him unsurprised.

TG: augh hold on

TG: you shoulda told me rox was gonna hmu

TT: You know I don’t control her, Dave.

\-- tipsyGnostalgic  [TG]  began pestering turntechGodhead  [TG]  at 6:24 --

TG: dave!!!!!!!!!!

TG: my sweet baby brother!!!

TG: jesus h dick delighted was an understatement

TG: aww davey

TG: dont u dare play up that fake upset shit

TG: we all know u lov being the family baby

TG: no i fucking dont

TG: why would anyone get all hyped over being doted over all the time

TG: like damn it really gets my rocks off when everyone treats me like a child

TG: keep pretendin u dont if u want hun

TG: but rox always knows

TG: mama rox can sniff out the truth always

TG: a truth bloodhound dave

TG: i know what ur up to u lil shit

TG: you dont know shit

TG: youre not my real mom

TG: well id be a dam better one than the one weve got

TG: i s2g the bitch had the nerve to look mad at me when rosie and i were celebratin 2 years of sobriety for me

TG: like yeah we get it

TG: ur just jelly cuz you cant do the same

TG: whateves bitch i been mothering your kids better anyways

TG: oh shit i gotta go!

TG: janes callin me?

TG: well thats strange as all fuck

TG: its like what

TG: 4 am there?

TG: maybe thats one of the mysteries shes always going on about

TG: the caper of the 4 am lesbian

TG: write that one down rox

TG: itll be a best seller for sure

\-- turntechGodhead  [TG]  ceased pestering tipsyGnostalgic  [TG]  at 6:38 -- 

Dave went back to his conversation with Rose.

TT: I’m waiting, Dave.

TT: Still waiting.

TT: …

TT: Jesus Christ you’re shitty at managing multiple conversations.

TT: Why am I acting surprised?

TT: It’s not like this is anything new to me.

TT: Oh wait, what’s this?

TT: Roxy just told me something I think you’d find quite interesting.

TG: whatever it is shes lying

TG: and also isnt she supposed to be on the phone

TT: She only sent the one thing and has since ceased responding.

TG: okay yeah

TG: makes sense ig

TG: but whatever it is its bullshit

TG: lies made to slander my good name

TT: Oh, but Dave.

TT: How did you know what she had to say would be derogatory or shameful for you if you didn’t have something to hide?

TG: cuz you lalondes are always coming up with ways to fuck with me

TG: yallre always making up the craziest shit

TG: pulling shit straight out of your collective ass and smacking it down on me

TG: i havent done or said shit

TG: YOU CANT PROVE SHIT

TT: Sure I can’t.

TT: It’s not like Roxy sent me a document with your conversation on it.

TG: fuck

TT: I’m just kidding, Dave.

TT: You know she’s more respectful of your privacy than that.

TG: fu for playing with my emotions like that

TG: i have done nothing to deserve this

TG: anyways dont you have shit to do

TG: like school shit

TT: Fuck, you’re right.

TT: Gotta go.

TG: see ya later lalonde

\-- tentacleTherapist  [TT]  has ceased pestering turntechGodhead  [TG]  at 6:59 

Dave leaned further into the wall, wishing his friends didn’t have such dumb obligations as school. He wished he didn’t have to do school. It wasn’t that he hated learning, it was just the system. Constantly throwing boring busywork at students to keep them occupied and giving them a false sense of accomplishment whenever they finished. It certainly didn’t help that half of the material taught in class wasn’t even on the final exams. The only reason he still went was so he had a reprieve in the day from Bro. Well, at least the days he was home.

From down the hall, another click sounded out as Bro very quickly slipped out of the apartment and vanished from sight. Dave sighed but he wasn’t sure if it was of relief or something else. Not disappointment. He was glad to see the asshole leave. He couldn’t believe he ever looked up to the man.

He very slowly got up, leaning heavily on the wall to keep his balance. Head rushes were always fun. He headed down the hallway and slipped into the apartment, locking the door behind himself. It looked like Cal was gone as well which meant he was probably out for some gig in the city for either the rest of the day or week. He could never really be sure.

Dave padded back to his room and pulled the med kit out from under his desk. He carried it to the cramped bathroom, sat down on the floor and tried to mentally prepare himself for the inevitable stitching up he’d have to do on his arm. He didn’t think there was a real way to prepare for it.

He pulled out the curved needle he kept with the kit and ran it under the water of the sink. In situations like this he would normally boil it to kill any harmful bacteria, but he wasn’t too sure he could get back up without passing out. So running it under scalding hot water and accidentally burning his hand would have to do.

He threaded the needle with shaking hands, almost unsure if he could actually get it through. He pulled the torn piece of shirt off his arm, wincing as it pulled at the edges of the wound. He took a deep breath and started stitching himself up. He felt himself become detached from the situation. The pain still felt real, but it wasn’t processing in his mind correctly. It was like stitching someone else up, but having the pain transferred to himself.

After he finished, he put a large patch of gauze over the wound and strapped it down with the last of his medical tape. He’d have to somehow get more and he wasn’t sure his regular method was going to work anymore after Bro had caught him last time. There’s only so many times you can steal from a man’s wallet without him noticing. He figured he’d be fine for a while, permitting Bro didn’t initiate any strifes before he could scrounge up enough change off the streets to buy some more tape.

He sat on the floor for an amount of time unknown to him, completely losing focus on everything. The feeling of being outside his body persisted and he didn’t know what to do about it. He didn’t feel even remotely comfortable on the floor, but he couldn’t get his body to move out of its slumped position against the shower. It was times like this he wished he didn’t exist.

A buzzing from his phone brought him out of his fugue-like state and nearly made him jump out of his skin. He pulled the device out from under his leg and checked who it was. What the fuck do you mean it’s 9:30?

\-- gardenGnostic  [GG]  began pestering turntechGodhead  [TG]  at 9:31 -- 

GG: hey dave!

GG: hows my favorite cool dude doing on this fine october morning?

TG: pretty well ig

TG: takin a day off of school for myself

TG: gotta take a break and make sure my ill beats dont keel over from some sort of unknown illness

TG: its such a shame beat medicine is so rarely practiced

TG: it would save me so much time

TG: but also fuck no im not letting someone else touch my beats

TG: theyd fuck them up too bad

TG: im the only one they can trust for a speedy recovery

TG: trust dr dave strider

TG: best beat doc in the country

TG: also idk if all the poor students at school can handle this everyday

TG: it can be a bit much for those unused to my striderian charms

GG: even if your beats are that ill, im not sure you should be taking this many breaks off of school :/

TG: dude its been like three times since the year began

TG: its no biggie

TG: and like i said

TG: i gotta ease the students into seeing this ass all the time

TG: my peers will die if theyre around this all the time

GG: i really dont think thats true

GG: youre a pretty cool dude, ill give you that

GG: but…

TG: but what

TG: jade you cant just pause on me like that

GG:…

TG: jade

GG: …...

TG: …

GG: ……...

TG: why this

GG: ………

TG: jade plz

GG: …………

TG: ……………………………

TG: i can out ellipses you

TG: i can and will jade

TG: its part of being this cool

GG: youre still a huge nerd!!! :D

GG: i feel like youre lying about why youre not in school, but I dont know enough about school to make a proper judgement on that

GG: just try to get to school tomorrow okay?

TG: yeah whatever

TG: mom

GG: D:

TG: idk why all yall have to be mothering me

TG: first the lalonde power hour and now you too

TG: my best gal

TG: johns the only one left whos not aggressively momming me

TG: or fathering

TG: or just parenting in general

TG: keepin himself my level

TG: keepin up being my best bro and not trying to make up for my lack of parents

TG: who needs parents anyways

GG: thats what ive been saying!

GG: i think jake still wishes we had someone tho

GG: but i think were doing fine on our own!

GG: we can fend for ourselves well enough at least

TG: i feel

Dave continued chatting with her and eventually managed to pull himself off the floor and move himself to his room. He pulled up MS Paint on his computer and sloppily drew the next exciting installment in Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff. He’d had the comic going for a good couple of years now and it had gained a pretty large following. He found it hilarious how a good half of his fanbase thought he all his work was genuine which in their defense, he did say it was. A good 20 minutes later he had the comic finished and he posted it.

Almost immediately, a comment appeared in the comment section he had decided to add a year ago. It was written in teal leetspeak or rather l33tsp34k, with how they typed. He had no clue who the person was, but they were the most avid follower of the shitty comic he had seen so far. They always gave a completely nonsensical review of the page that went into as much detail as possible about something different every time. This time it was a lovely story about the porkchop shape of Hella Jeff’s mouth and how it resembled something they once drew as a child. How inspirational.

The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully which he wasn’t complaining about. He’d rather have an ordinary boring ass day than one full of action. He’d had enough action in his life thank you very much and he was fine chilling. He considered a nap for an ironically long period of time before deciding against it. He was nearly an adult and no adult he knew napped. Well, except for Roxy. He didn’t really think she counted, though.

Dave fell asleep rather early that night, for himself at least which would normally have him disappointed in himself. He blamed it on getting up so early. He had earned these extra few hours of sleep.

\--- 

A knock on the front door of the apartment woke him up from his deep sleep. He felt more rested than the previous day, despite the lack of sun coming over the horizon. He checked his phone as he got up to go get the door. 5:19 is somehow not as bad of a time to wake up he guessed, but that was mainly from the extra hour or two he’d managed to snag. It was still pretty miserable.

Another set of knocks came from the door and he made a sound back to notify whoever it was that he was coming. Who even goes somewhere at 5 in the morning? Who’s awake? No one reasonable that’s for sure.

He pulled the door open, just as the person went to knock on the door again which left their fist up in the air awkwardly. Dave was nothing less than shocked when he realized who it was.

Standing with his fist still in the air was his older brother, Dirk. A man he hadn’t seen since he’d ran off at 16 to escape the living hell he and Dave had to put up with on the daily.

“Hey Dave, long time no see, huh?”


	2. Douche

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hes back?

Dave slammed the door on Dirk and stared at the door for a moment. This wasn't real, it had to be a dream. He opened up Pesterchum and sent a message to Roxy.

\-- turntechGodhead [TG]  has begun pestering tipsyGnostalgic [TG]  at 5:21--

TG: hey rox you up?

She responded quicker than he expected her to, after all it was ungodly early in the morning.

TG: hmnm?

TG: yeah wassup dav?

TG: either im having some sort of hallucination due to it being the second day in a row i woke up this fucking early or i just found dirk

TG: or rather he found me ig

TG: okay but

TG: its not like ive moved or anything so it wouldnt be that hard for him to find me

TG: whatever

TG: hes outside the apartment

TG: thats what i was getting at with this

TG: o shit!!!!

TG: didnt think hed get there so early

TG: did you let him in????

TG: oh wait hold on

TG: wait what the fuck

TG: rox you knew

TG: why the shit didnt you tell me?????

TG: you slammed the door in his face???

TG: dave i thought i raised you better than this

TG: you didnt raise shit

TG: stfu

TG: accept my motherly love and let your long lost brother in

TG: hell explain mmkay

TG: just trust us

TG: now i need to pass the fuck back out cuz im tired as shit

TG: ttyl

TG: roxy wait 

\-- tipsyGnostalgic [TG]  has ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at 5:28 --

Dave stared at his phone and then the door, not fully sure if he wanted to deal with it. He would love to go back to bed and get the rest he needed to get better to go back to school and pretend like he had a normal home life. He only had two more years until he could get the fuck out of Dodge and escape the angry sword wielding dipshit and find somewhere safe to live.

After another few moments of weighing the outcomes in his mind, Dave pulled the door open again and stared up at his brother. He didn't look too different than the last time he'd seen him. His face had filled out more and he'd gotten taller, enough so that Dave had to look up at him. He looked tired, almost unnaturally so, like something more than just the early hour and possibly long drive from wherever was dragging him down.

"Uh..." Dave said, eloquently and not like a total idiot.

"Are you gonna slam the door on my face again or should I just go?" Dirk asked, pointing over his shoulder with a thumb. "I've got a ticket out of this hellhole with your name printed on the line in blurry bank gothic, but if you're good with another who knows how long of swordfights and bullshit I can fuck back off."

"I, uh..." Dave said, continuing to keep up his ever perfect eloquence. "You can come in."

Dave moved to the side to let Dirk come in. Dirk stepped through the threshold and immediately grimaced. Whether it was from the smell or the near horrific disarray the place had fallen into since he left, Dave wasn't sure. He figured it was probably a combination of both.

"Damn, this place is shittier than I remember." Dirk muttered under his breath, sidestepping to avoid a dark patch on the torn carpet. "Okay, so judging by your initial reaction, Roxy didn't say jack shit to you, huh?"

"Wow, wonder what gave that away?" Dave said, rolling his eyes. "What the fuck do you want, man? It's five in the god damn morning and I'm tired as shit. Fuckin explain yourself, dude."

"Our idiot of a mother finally caught wind of what Bro was doing to his share of the kid pile and sued for custody which she promptly got. Turns out Bro wasn't too eager to keep a kid he didn't even want and when it was offered that someone was willing to take them away he gave in. Shame the judicial system is too corrupt for his bribes to not go through, though."

"So you're essentially gonna steal me away against my will after being gone for six years on account of suspicious shit no one told me about? Is this even how it works? I thought I had to be there or something?" Dirk simply shrugged in response.

"Law ain't really my thing, bro and honestly I'm kind of surprised that that's the thing you're concerned about." Dirk said, frowning slightly.

"Oh fuck you, there's plenty of shit I'm concerned about. For example, where the fuck did you run off to after shit went sideways with Jake or, how about this: how you knew any of this was going on? Or why you stopped responding to any of us for three and a half years?" Dave's voice cracked at the end and he blamed it on the early hour. "We thought you died."

Dirk stared at the ground, mouth flattened into a thin line. "I know, Ro-Lal told me everything a couple days ago. I was up in Seattle for a couple months when I bumped into one of Roxy's high school friends in the U District. Well rather, she bumped into me. At full force. Going down a hill on a skateboard. She apparently recognized me from some pictures Roxy had up in her room and promptly messaged her. Kind of takes away the guise of nonexistence away if you catch my drift. I unblocked Roxy and sent her a few messages and she exploded at me for the whole dropping off the face of the earth thing and then we caught up. She told me about the custody thing and I offered to come get you and she told me she'd tell you, but it looks like she forgot. There, does that explain everything? That good enough to tide you over to get you out of here? Don't tell me you need more exposition, cause I don't think I can keep going like this. It's been a long ass time since I've actually had to talk this much to anyone aside from instances dictated by my own volition."

"I think I earned the right to be a little curious, asshole. I guess you can shut up for now, I can finally relieve you of your horrendous wordy burden I forced onto you, your princeliness. Let us rest now and stop being a couple of awkward pussies on our big ass phallic steeds." Dave said, pushing down a smile, fuck he missed his brother.

"Careful with what you say there, Dave. Don't wanna summon Lalonde with that kind of talk." Dirk looked like he was also suppressing a smile. What a nerd.

"It hasn't gotten her to come down here to destroy my ass yet, so I think I'm relatively safe. Can never be too sure, though. She could just pop out of a smuppet's foamy asshole, fake psychiatric notebook and expensive pen in hand, ready to tear my psyche to shreds." Dave joked, relaxing a little bit more.

"As if she doesn't do that daily." Dirk said, an easy smile on his face.

"Shut up, she did worse to you when you were around." Dave argued, letting a small smile slip out.

"No, she really didn't. You've always been her favorite and easiest subject to attack with her psychoanalytical drivel and we both know it. You set your own traps up for yourself and act surprised when you fall into them, don't even act like you don't. That's a set in stone fact you can't escape from, Dave."

"I think you might be giving me too much credit, my dude. I don't do shit to plan my slip ups, if I had the foresight I wouldn't do fucking do them in the first place, so your argument is invalid. Get fuckin rekt." Dave said, being way more extra than he normally let himself be.

"2011 called, they want their meme back."

"Suck your own dick and die." Dave retorted.

"Tried that, man. Didn't go nearly as well as you might've hoped."

"I missed you, dude." Dave said, with a dumb smile on his face.

"Missed you too, kiddo." Dirk responded, ruffling his younger brother's still sleep mussed hair.

"So uh... What now?" Dave asked after a moment. Long overdue sibling spats aside, the issue was still on the table to be properly addressed.

"What do you think? We're gonna pack your shit and gun it out of here. I thought you picked up on that?" Dirk said, voice a mixture of distress and mild annoyance.

"Yeah, no fucking shit, I was just trying to get our asses in gear so we're not standing around like a couple of flailing dipshits til Bro gets home and throws you out a fucking window." Dave said, also mildly annoyed. "C'mon man, help a dude carry his shit out. It's like five thirty fuck in the morning and I'm not carrying everything on my own. Speaking of which, why did you choose five in the morning of all times to get me? Why not wait around til a more reasonable time instead of right now?"

"If I got here too late you'd be gone for school and fuck knows when you'd get home after school." Dirk explained, starting down the hallway to his brother's room. "Didn't really feel like risking a one on one encounter with Bro if I got here too early and you weren't here. Early in the morning is pretty much the least precarious perch if Bro is the fur trapper and I'm some sort of endangered tree climbing beaver trying to keep my kit safe. Gotta hide well up in the branches of this five am evergreen if we don't want to get caught by the big ass dude with a gunsword and an ironic coonskin cap."

Dave followed him, humming in response to his brother's continuous tangential ramble about beavers and their brother as an early 1800s trapper. It was pretty easy to tune the senseless rambling out since he was still fairly well used to it. No matter how many years passed, ignoring what his brother was saying was a skill he held onto tight. Deep down he knew that he wasn't much better about keeping a lid down on his words.

The two set about clearing out Dave's childhood room, starting first with carefully rolling the more delicate of his collection of dead things into his comforter and carefully carrying them down to Dirk's small car. Next went the vast array of electronics, or at least the less damaged ones of the bunch. No matter how hard Dave tried to keep them in good condition, he was still rather clumsy and ended up scratching up some equipment more than it should. He almost found it miraculous that some had even survived as long as they had.

After bundling up the last of his clothes into his arms, Dave took one last look around the room he grew up in. He felt as if he shouldn't be as sentimental as he was about the place as he was, he was glad he was leaving after all. But still, he grew up in this tiny apartment and no matter how many bad memories he had, there were still the small few good ones that stuck out to him.

Dirk shut the door behind them and went to lock it, before realizing he didn't have the key. He looked down to Dave who just shrugged in response. They both headed down the hall and the stairs, not giving much of a shit if someone broke in and stole everything. It wasn't their property after all, why should they care? It's not like Bro couldn't easily replace anything that was stolen.

Dave dropped the pile of clothes into the backseat of the car and exchanged it for his pillow before sitting up in the passenger seat. Dirk slid in next to him and sent a message to someone. Afterwards, he started the car and pulled out into the still dark streets of Houston.

"You should try to get some sleep, little bro." Dirk said, staring out at the empty city street. "It's gonna be a long drive and I can't get us a hotel anywhere so we're pretty much gonna have to straight shot this drive."

"Don't you need to sleep? Like fuck dude, when was the last time you slept even? You drove down here from Seattle and I'm gonna make a wild guess and say you didn't stop then either. I'd say I'm surprised, maybe even a little shook if I do say so myself, but god damn you hate sleeping. How does a person even fuck up that bad? Like yeah, you lack the right chemicals and insomnia, but it kinda fucks me up that you just don't sleep, my dude." Dave rambled, lowering his face against the pillow he had clutched to his chest.

"I'll sleep when I'm dead, Dave. I can keep going 'til we get up to New York. I'll be good." Dirk responded, completely serious.

"Okay, but if you crash us into the Mississippi on account of unscheduled sleepy times, I'll fight you to the double death as a ghost from our shitty, watery grave." Dave grumbled, shifting his posture in his seat until he was more comfortable.

Hours passed as they drove through the boring countrysides of the South and further up into the north. By the time they were pulling into the long gravel driveway after a half hour long drive through the woods, over a full day had passed and the sun had long since passed the horizon. Soft morning sunlight flitered through the trees, dappling the ground as the two brothers climbed out of the car.

There was another car parked further up the driveway next to a hot pink moped that had been tricked out with a painting of a cat riding a surfboard on a wave of flames. Dave figured that undoubtedly must belong to Roxy. Who else would have such spectacularly unironic tastes in vehicle art? Knowing her, she probably did it herself as soon as she got her hands on it.

"C'mon man, let's go." Dirk said, gesturing towards the door with his head. "There'll be plenty of time for vehicle ogling later."

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Dave said, ignoring him. That was such a sick cat, how could he ignore it? It deserved to be looked at. Such a work of pure, unironic art was so rare these days. He briefly considered asking Dirk if he'd take a picture of him posing in front of it, but decided against it due to the increasingly impatient look on his brother's face.

"Okay man, take me to meet them or whatever. It's not like I've never seen them before, though. Well, in person, no. But, you catch my drift, right? Low quality Skype calls totally count. Honestly, they probably count more." Dave said with a shrug. "It's the combo of unintelligible aural nonsense and visual nonsense with the connection breaking every two seconds that really makes it."

Dirk nodded and started walking up the narrow, concrete path up to the front door, regardless of whether Dave was following him or not. It took a few moments, but Dave followed him up to the porch shortly after he'd knocked on the door.

"One sec!" A voice from inside called, followed by a flurry of excited footsteps.

A curvy, blonde woman opened the door, holding a cat one arm who Dave immediately recognized as his older sister. He knew she was taller than Rose, but he wasn't expecting to be barely over eye level from her.

"Hey, Ro-Lal." Dirk greeted casually.

"Heya, Di-Stri and my sweetest, babiest brother." Roxy said, setting the cat down on the ground. "Long time, never seen, huh?"

Dave groaned internally at both of his siblings choice of greetings.

"Yo, whattup." Dave said, trying to appear just as casual as his brother. He was really excited to see his family, but wasn't ready to stop downplaying his emotions yet despite the years of talking to them. He had to keep up his appearance even if they both knew the truth.

"C'mon in you nerds, Rosie and I just cooked up some breakfast!" Roxy gestured them inside, a bright smile on her face. "We can get your shit from the car later, I wanna hear all about your trip!"

Rose poked her head out from what Dave assumed to be the kitchen, upon hearing the nickname she hated, a look of mild confusion on her face. Confusion quickly shifted into shock and slight betrayal.

"What the fuck are you doing at my house?" Rose yelled, beginning to storm over to the front.

“God fucking-, Roxy did you not tell Rose either?” Dirk sighed, exasperated.

“It slipped my mind a lil bit, okay?” Roxy replied, pouting a little. “I’ve been hella busy sorting out all the small deets about Dave moving up here that mom didn’t want to and I figured Dave would talk to her about it.”

“Wait, hold on, he’s moving up here?” Rose asked, seeming a bit miffed.

“Yeah, what of it?” Dave retorted. “Don’t want to share more space in your house with someone else you have the misfortune of sharing genetics with?”

“Yes Dave, it’s obviously that.” Rose said, voice sharp with sarcasm. “It clearly isn’t the fact that no one even thought to inform me about your swift arrival and now permanent residence up here in the however many days the three of you have been conspiring about this.”

“Hey, you can’t pin this all on me,” Dave responded “I’ve known about this for a grand total of about a day and some change. You live with Rox, it should’ve been up to her to tell you.”

“Like I said,” Roxy interjected. “I was busy workin on getting your ass settled up here with lots of halfway legally dubious deeds, it’s more on Dirk if anything!”

“I was getting to that.” Rose said flatly, her eyes narrowing. “Dearest older brother, care to explain where you decided to vanish to for the past few years and why exactly you came back so coincidentally now that your family is getting truly united for the first time?”

“Rose, look I can ex-” Dirk started.

“You can explain over breakfast.” Rose said firmly. “Either way, it’s nice to finally see you without the aid of cheap video chatting software. Roxy and I cooked up a very large breakfast that is meant to feed more than just us two, which makes sense given the new context I suppose. We should get along to that before it gets too cold.”

The four of them gathered their breakfasts from off the kitchen counter and sat down on the couch. Dave nervously eyed the wizard statue that sat next to the couch, he wasn’t sure how his sisters could so easily go about their lives with hundreds of fake bearded men watching them at all times. Then again, the household he came from was less conventional in the sense of décor. He’d take wizardly bearded men over long nosed sex puppets any day.

He wasn’t paying too much attention to the conversation bouncing around between his siblings and was more caught up in his food. Dave wasn’t sure if he could remember a time when he had ever had a meal like it. Back in Houston he had to rely on cheap snack foods and microwave meals to keep him alive and that was only on the days he could manage to get the money or had the guts to steal from the gas station on the corner. He tried to tune back into the conversation and not be so focused on the taste of his food.

“-Listen, I just wish you’d have given me some forewarning about this whole thing.” Rose complained. “I invited a couple of friends over thinking nothing was going to happen today, much less my twin and my long lost brother appearing in my life as a permanent fixture.”

“Not exactly permanent.” Dirk corrected and Dave felt his stomach drop. He didn’t want to go back. He couldn’t go back. “I’ll probably be heading back up to Seattle in a few days.”

Oh.

Wait, fuck no.

“Oi, no you’re not.” Roxy said around a mouthful of eggs, beating Dave to the punch to reprimand their brother. “I’m not about to let you waltz your long ass back out of our lives so you can go back to sucking dick across the country. You can stay here, I told you that before, dumbass.”

“Roxy you don’t need to tell them that!” Dirk argued, setting his plate down on the counter behind him.

“What? That you’ve been slutting yourself out all over the place ‘cuz Jake broke your heart? They do kinda have a right to know.” Dirk paled and stared down at his hands, embarrassed.

“Is that so?” Rose asked, leaning forward a bit. “David, would you go catch my pen and notebook, I need to put some long overdue notes in Dirk’s file.”

“I’m your brother not your fucking butler.” Dave said, accidentally flinging some eggs onto a wizard statue. “You don’t even have anything written on us, I've seen your room and shitty wizard fiction and none of that contains a lick of your friends and family's mental conditions.”

“You don’t know that, Dave.” Rose said smugly. “I could’ve been holding those particular notebooks out on you and you would never know.”

“I need to go.” Dirk said suddenly, standing up quickly and striding towards the door. Dave started getting up to go after him, he didn’t want to lose him again. Not this soon after last time, it had barely even been a day.

“No you don’t, bro.” Roxy stood up faster than Dave could and grabbed his arm. “No more running, c’mon. Just stay, please. You don’t wanna run out on Dave again, do you?”

Dirk turned so he was facing more away from the rest of his siblings. He looked so guilty and tired, more tired than Dave had noticed thus far. Dirk always held himself with a tired kind of strength that came from years of fighting with himself so harshly. This however, this was different. He looked exhausted, pitiful and unkempt.

“You can't stop me in the long run but fine, I won’t leave. Yet.” Dirk called over his shoulder, walking towards the stairs now. “But I am olliying the fuck out of this conversation to get some hard earned shut eye so y’all can’t keep bothering me about this shit.” He was acting completely like an edgy, whiny teenager, which he still was in Dave’s eyes.

“Mmkay, hun.” Roxy called back. “You’re going the complete wrong way for the guest bedroom, though.”

Dirk turned back to her, a little confused and she pointed to a door on the left of the stairs. He quickly slipped through the door and that was the last they saw of him for the rest of the day. Dave couldn’t blame him, after all it had been days since he last slept and there’s only so long he could make it without it.

Dave sat back down on the couch and leaned back into it, trying to get comfortable on the stiff, faux leather seat. How was this in anyway practical? Dave couldn’t help but wonder how any person in their right mind would ever consider buying such an uncomfortable piece of furniture. A couch is a place that’s supposed to cradle your ass, not reject it. How could anyone live like this? Rose gave him a look. Shit, had he said that out loud?

Rose opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the doorbell chiming loudly.

“I’ll get it!” Roxy announced, bounding over to the door and flinging it open. Three figures came through the door as Roxy stepped aside, all of varying statures and fashion sense.

The tallest one, a girl from what Dave could tell, was dressed sensibly and comfortably for the chilly autumn weather outside, all of it nicely tied together by a bright red scarf loosely hanging around her neck. The middlest in height of the three, was sporting the most disgustingly brightly colored clothing Dave had ever seen and he was loving it. Never before had he seen someone dressed like a 90s internet manual in person. He was internally delighted at the prospect of not only seeing a rad as fuck skater cat on a moped and the 90s in a person.

The shortest one was dressed very simply, sporting a fluffy black turtleneck sweater and a comfy looking pair of sweatpants he had his shirt tucked into. His hair was a fluffy mess that was sticking up every which way like he hadn’t even tried to run a brush through it. It looked pretty soft, though and Dave couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like. Wow, that was a weird thought. Good thing he wasn't gay.

“Rose, you didn’t tell us your brother was visiting.” The tallest one spoke up in a calm voice. She seemed vaguely familiar to Dave. Maybe Rose had sent a picture with her to him?

“He didn’t tell me either.” Rose said, faking annoyance at him. “Dave, I would like you to meet Kanaya, Terezi, and Karkat. They’re friends from school who I invited over before you and Dirk showed up uninvited.”

“Yo.” Dave greeted the three newcomers.

“Oh my god, hes even more of a douchebag in person.” The shortest one, Karkat said in a voice that was a borderline yell.

“Wow, thanks you too.” Dave responded, he didn't think Rose had ever mentioned him before. Already, Dave could tell it was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhhhhhhh i hope this doesnt completely suck cuz im still setting shit up  
> i feel like im writing ooc and its kinda fucking me up tbh but like im gonna roll with it  
> let me know if theres errors or if you like it  
> and whoops i made it longer than i originally planned so theres that too  
> sorry this took so long to get out, works been an absolute bitch recently plus the bonus of depression and routine bullshit that crops up in my day to day life  
> this was also about the third draft the chapter went through so theres that on top of everything  
> i think thats all ive got to say

**Author's Note:**

> lets see if i can write more than two chapters before giving up lol  
> if theres any glaring mistakes let me know  
> shits gonna get better i promise


End file.
